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January 06, 2015

I seriously neglected the blog last year, so in an effort to make better use of this space and to share life's happenings with family and friends because not everyone is on facebook, I'm going to open my 2015 posts with a list of 14 highlights from 2014.

1. Lion King...Again

Concert and Broadway tours don't come through Honolulu very often, so when they do, we get excited. We saw Lion King once before when the tour came in 2007.

2. The Great Aloha Run

My Honolulu Marathon finish of 2013 rekindled my interest in walking/running and inspired Rob to sign up to do the marathon with me in 2014. Training began with our participation in the Great Aloha Run. We had a fun time making our way along the 8 mile stretch from Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium in the rain, and I'm happy to report that we both finished.

3. Arwen's 4th Grade Big Island Trip

This was her first time travelling on an airplane without either parent. What a special experience for Arwen to fly to another island and spend three nights away from home with her schoolmates, teachers, and some chaperones. As much as we would have loved to have gone with Arwen (Okay, not really. There was a lot of hiking involved, and it rained the whole time), this was her trip. Thankfully, Arwen's chaperone and friends shared some pictures of her wonderful time.

4. Arwen Turned 10!

We celebrated her first double digit birthday with some friends watching Rio 2 at the movie theatre followed by dinner at Kona Brewing Company.

5. Mulan, Jr.

We've always enjoyed watching the beautiful performances put together by the theatre arts program teacher at Arwen's school each year. What a special treat it was to have Arwen participate this year as a member of the ensemble. She had a blast, and we loved watching Arwen on stage. I also had fun helping out with some of the costuming. All of the long hours and rehearsals paid off. It was a great show!

6. Harlem Globetrotters

Both Rob and I remember the first time as children that we saw the Harlem Globetrotters live, so we looked forward to sharing this experience with Arwen. While the faces have changed over the years, they are still a group of incredible athletes with mindblowing skills!

7. Summer Family Vacation to the East Coast

My nephew Justin graduated from high school in June. It was a good enough excuse for us to brave the summer travel chaos to celebrate and visit with family and friends. We even managed a day trip up to New York to see Matilda!

8. Maui Family Visit

Rob's younger brother and family flew to Oahu for a brief visit from Maui, so Arwen was blessed with more cousin time during their stay.

9. Jack Johnson Times Two

Along with our buds, Kerri and Cayman, we are huge Jack Johnson fans and sorely miss the Kokua Festivals of the past. We were so grateful for the opportunity to score tickets for BOTH nights that Jack performed here on Oahu to wrap up his From Here to Now to You tour.

10. A Bike Rider

Growing up on "the hill" made learning to ride a bike a challenge for Arwen. She had a bike for a few years, but finding a safe place and enough time to practice was difficult. We decided it was time for Arwen to master the skill, especially since our move to a flat neighborhood really left no excuses. We took her out for a little while every day, and after about a week - she got it! Arwen'd outgrown the bike, so we took her out to shop for a new one. Arwen settled on a beautiful beach cruiser. The fact that it kind of matched the outfit she was wearing that day was purely coincidental.

11. Canoe Paddlers

Arwen started paddling canoe for the Elks Club this fall and absolutely loved it. Thanks to a shortage of steersman, Rob was able to jump in and help out a few times as well. It was a great activity for the two to share and nice to see Rob back in a canoe, too. Unfortunately, due to a schedule conflict with ballet, Arwen had to take a break, but she hopes to restart in 2015.

12. Aulani Staycation

Fall Break and a special kama'aina deal introduced our family (including Kerri and Cayman) to the beautiful Disney Aulani Resort. This place is a dream - something you have to experience to fully understand. If you have the means, do it.

13. La Muerta

Arwen gave me quite the challenge for a Halloween costume this year. After seeing the previews for the Book of Life movie, she was determined to be La Muerta. Challenge accepted. Yes, her hat really did light up, and yes, I made her costume.

14. Another Honolulu Marathon Finish

Rob was supposed to join me for this one, but an emergency surgery to repair a hernia kept him from doing so. The procedure wasn't too serious, but he was still in recovery when marathon time came, so he had to settle for cheering at the finish line. Several friends did get their running/walking shoes on for this event, though, making this finish just as much fun as the first. I managed to scrape about 40 minutes off of my time, too.

Narrowing this list to 14 wasn't easy. We had a calendar full of moments that brought us great joy. Despite a sprinkle of challenges to keep our lives interesting, 2014 was filled with quality time, fun, family and friends.

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! We wish you peace, love, and joy in this new year and are looking forward to see what 2015 brings!

September 29, 2014

Hate is such a harsh word that I prefer not to use, but camping is one thing I can honestly say I do hate. Why anyone would choose to pay for a permit to live like a homeless person for three nights "roughing it" unable to properly bath/shower, using dirty public beach restrooms, and taking your chances with the nighttime creepy crawlies when you've got a perfectly comfy bed and clean bathroom in a home just a matter of a few miles away is beyond me. But I tolerate it each year (sometimes twice a year) for my kid and her friends who seem to absolutely love it. Oh...and some genuine campfire s'mores help.

This year we braved the masses and managed to get permits to camp at Bellows over Labor Day weekend for Cayman's 11th birthday. Camping for Cayman has become an annual tradition for the last three years.

One of these years, I'm hoping the kids will catch on to my style of camping... private air-conditioned suite with room service and an occasional pool side cocktail.

August 15, 2014

There are times when we get all of these cousins together under one roof and may feel like we're managing a zoo. On this summer visit, we decided to take them to one.

It was a full day as we did our best to make sure everyone got to see their favorites. The new ZOO360 animal trails that link habitats by large mesh tunnels throughout the park were awesome. Lots of activity, especially with the Big Cats!

These were some of my favorite shots from the day. You can find the rest here on flickr.

August 07, 2014

Carla and I have been friends since we met in kindergarten. We have assigned seating in alphabetical order to thank for that. Savini and Schopf always landed one beside or behind the other, so naturally we became best buds and still stay in touch as best we can over many years and separated by many miles.

I was greatful for a chance to meet up with Carla at Peddler's Village during our East Coast trip this summer. The town is a small stretch of unique specialty shops (and a few bigger outlet stores, too) in an old-fashioned village setting. A perfect place for shopping and beautiful photo ops.

We're hoping to stay in town next time, so we can enjoy the shops and scenery a little longer.

August 01, 2014

Was in April, and it only took us until to July to finish all of the thank you notes and share the pictures. This is my life.

Birthday girl's choice for her grand celebration of double digits... another movie party. This time a new (at the time) release, Rio 2. The kids seemed to enjoy the movie and were incredibly well-behaved, especially for a group of mostly 4th graders.

Most joined us after for dinner and birthday cake at Kona Brewing Co.

And Noel's dad took the birthday girl and a few of her friends on a short little boat tour of Koko Marina to end a perfect day.

And when the favors that I ordered online finally showed up AFTER the party, we packaged them up and sent them out along with some hand-stamped Thank You notes made by Arwen and me.

July 24, 2014

Earlier this month, we had the pleasure of hosting our Maui family for a fun-filled day at the Elks Club. Arwen loves spending time with her cousins, so getting to do so while doing something else she loves... swimming... was a bonus.

July 23, 2014

We have a large pot out back that is shared by some beautiful (when in bloom) water lilies and a few dozen little pond guppies. A couple of months ago, I nearly jumped out of my skin while passing the pot and realizing the pot had a new resident - a bufo toad. Yuck!

He remained absolutely still and spent most of the day cruising in there. The guppies didn't seem to mind. All of sudden he was gone. I didn't see or hear him leave, and I have no idea where he goes when he's not soaking in the pot, but he comes back on occasion, scaring the begeezus out of me every time. He showed up again the other day, so I decided to recruit him for a photo shoot.

August 11, 2013

People who garden rave about what an awesome fertilizer vermicast is. Unfortunately, this gal with the two black thumbs wouldn't know a thing about that.

We started this hobby when Arwen was in preschool because it was kind of fun watching the worms eat our food trash, and it seemed like a good household project to reduce waste. But our favorite part of the process has been and continues to be...

THE WORM BALL!

After patiently sifting through all the worm poop bit by bit, we just love when our pile is reduced to the perfect ball of worms. Of course, this time around, we ended up with more of a worm blob rather than a ball. No joke - we started with only about a golf ball sized bunch of worms, but over time, it's grown into this!

Pretty amazing, isn't it?

We've set the bin up to restart a new batch. Likely the harvested vermicast will go to our green-thumbed friends and family when it's ready.

One of these days, I'd like for us to do more with the product, but for now, we'll just keep enjoying the process.

May 29, 2013

We met up with Arwen's cousin, Gio, and family this weekend at the 50th State Fair and had such a nice time enjoying the rides, games, carnival food, and PIG RACES!!

This little feature has become one of the top items on my "must do" list since we discovered it a couple of years ago. The pigs are adorable - all three teams of them. In past years, they raced for an Oreo cookie on the prize plate, but this year it was for a "Pig Newton." So cute!

If you plan to go, I highly recommend taking the break from the rides and games to check the show out. In fact, if you were on the fence about whether or not to even go to the fair - GO!

Some things that made our visit such a success:

We arrived at about 5:30 pm on a Sunday. Parking ($5) was wide open with plenty of stalls close to the entrance. The day crowd was on their way out, but it wasn't dark yet, so the night crowd hadn't arrived. We had NO lines for entrance, rides, games, or food. There was even decent seating left for the 6:30 pm pig show when we showed up at the tent at 6:32! The weather was also perfect. We'd escaped the day time heat, but it was too early for the evening chill.

On Sundays, they offer a 10-ride wristband for $35. It's good for any ride at any time during the day you purchased it provided you meet the height requirements for the ride. It's well worth the money for those who go on the big kid rides (most are 4 or 5 coupons), but not so much for the little kid rides (most are 2 or 3 coupons.) We didn't get one for Arwen because she isn't big on rides. A sheet of coupons and a hand full donated by random people leaving the fair covered her just fine. But each of the boys got their money's worth hitting their favorites twice.

Just as the lines started to grow and the crowd began to build, we were pretty much all faired out and ready to go.